Based on its observations during the recent Advanced Polling conducted by the Election Commission, Tindak Malaysia’s founder, PY Wong said that the voting process in a number of polling stations is going to be chaotic – and coupled with the poor weather forecast in the late afternoons – many legitimate voters will not get to cast their votes.

Wong urged the EC to immediately extend the voting hours for ordinary voters on Sunday to 8pm. The use of the indelible ink before voting will create a delay in voting. Common sense tells us that adding an operation into the critical path will take more time, especially with a wet finger which may smudge a ballot paper, necessitating a replacement, thus causing delay.
“From Day One, we have been urging the EC to use indelible ink after voting, not before,” he said. “This is the common practice in many other countries where indelible ink is used. Why is the EC being so recalcitrant?”

The EC, he said, cannot blame it on any one for delaying the voting process, and preventing legitimate voters from voting. “We have observed the way the voting process was conducted for the military and the police,” he said. “For example, in Subang Jaya, there are three polling stations. The voting hours were from 8am to 7pm - 11 hours! There was 8.46 minutes per voter for one polling station with only 78 voters, while in two other polling stations with 407 voters each, there was 1.62 minutes per voter.” We found that one book of 50 ballot papers took 70 minutes to clear with a smooth voter flow. In other words, an ideal situation took 1.54 minutes.

However, he added, for Sunday, the EC has designed for 700 ordinary voters to cast their votes in 9 hours, which means there is only 0.77 minutes per voter. “Why are ordinary voters getting less than half the time given to the military and the police?” he asked. “Is this a formula for chaos and then blame it on civil society movements like BERSIH 2.0 and Tindak Malaysia?”

The EC, he pointed out, is also forcing the polling agents into a difficult situation where they cannot carry out their duties to the fullest. “The job of the polling agent is to ensure no cheating happens during the voting process, but the EC knows very well that by setting nine hours for 700 voters per polling station, they are going to create chaos, more so with the introduction of indelible ink before voting,” he said. “To reduce the delay time, we have urged the EC to follow international standard practices to apply the indelible ink at the end of the voting process, but EC is recalcitrant with its own decision, knowing well that this could also create possible spoilt votes.”

To find out more, watch our videos at myDurianTV in YouTube on “EP08: 0.77 minut”